Every second sprint race is acclaimed as a ‘sire making race’, but current evidence would suggest the Cox Plate is in fact a great yardstick for sire success with four past winners of the race currently placed in the Top 20 Australian Sires by earnings.
Savabeel, Shamus Award and So You Think are currently ranked 9, 10 and 11, while Ocean Park sits in 16th place and will have a runner in the Cox Plate on Saturday in the Chris Waller trained Kolding, already a dual Group I winner.
The only other Cox Plate winning colt in the past 20 years is Adelaide (IRE) and he too has made his mark at stud as the sire of Group I winning mare Funstar.
Also worth considering in the Cox Plate of 2012 won by Ocean Park, the two placegetters in second and third were All Too Hard and Pierro, two exceptional three year-olds that are also now in the Top 20 leading sires.
Now based at Rosemont Stud in Victoria after starting his stud career in the Hunter Valley at Widden Stud, 2013 Cox Plate hero Shamus Award has been a big mover in the past 18 months and is the most successful sire son of Snitzel.
Slow to get going, Shamus Award is not a noted sire of two year-olds, but as his stock have matured, it’s fair to say he has been a revelation to a lot of people.
He did not get a stakes-winner until his oldest progeny were late season three year-olds, but with the arrival of Mr Quickie, Etana and Classic Weiwei, Shamus Award showed all was not lost and has enjoyed ever increasing results ever since.
Mr Quickie remains his flagship performer and won his second Group I this spring in the MRC Toorak Handicap, while new stars like Swat’s That, Sovereign Award, Flying Award and undefeated Kosciusko winner It’s Me hold promise for the future.
For those keen to follow the fortunes of Shamus Award, keep an eye out for his lightly raced three year-old colt Embolism.
Trained by Dann O’Brien, as was his sire, Embolism will chase Black Type in coming weeks and could easily be stakes-winner number 10 for Shamus Award.
